The present invention relates to the field of real-time streaming and, more particularly, to providing a real-time view via a wireless communication channel associated with a panoramic video capture device.
Providing high quality optics in a panoramic camera is challenging. Different approaches have been taken for this problem. One approach is to move a lens and to capture a set of images as the lens moves, which cover a field of view over time. The images from the moved lens are combined to form a panoramic scene. Another approach is to form an array of multiple different camera lenses and to combine the image results captured by the array of lenses into a single image. In this approach each lense captures a portion of the panoramic scene which is computationally composited together to form a panoramic image. Still another is to utilize an ultra-wide angle lens (e.g., a fish-eye lens) to capture a scene with a wider-than-normal field of view. Yet another is to use a panoramic optical device to create a 360 degree horizontal field of view using a single shot (a discrete point of time using a single lens). This later approach is sometimes referred to as a “one-shot” panoramic device, which captures a panoramic scene in a single point in time using a single lens. Each of these approaches has benefits and drawbacks depending on use cases.
Within one-shot solutions that use panoramic optical components, a number of approaches have been taken depending on situation. Frequently, these components permit a single 360 degree image of an environment to be captured. Images captured by this technique often conform to projections (e.g., spherical, fish eye) which distort perspective, shapes, and sizes of objects within the environment and the environment itself. Frequently, software correct using digital signal processing (DSP) techniques is employed to decrease distortion and increase image viewability. However, software correction distortion correction can be limited and often time consuming resulting in high latency between image capture and image display.